Salt Lake City Will Host 2034 Winter Olympics

The International Olympic Committee awarded the 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City on Wednesday only after a last-minute demand that the agreement shield global sports authorities from U.S. investigations into doping by Chinese athletes.

Organizers of Salt Lake City’s bid and Gov. Spencer J. Cox of Utah agreed to the changes sought by the I.O.C. The unexpected twist came amid an escalating dispute between the global antidoping agency and its American counterpart, and at a time when the Justice Department and Congress are looking into why Chinese swimmers who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs three years ago were not subject to penalties from the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Mr. Cox told I.O.C. members before Wednesday’s vote awarding the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Salt Lake City that he would “work with the levers of power,” including in Congress, to “alleviate your concerns.”

The announcement brought fully into the open a festering clash within the sports world over reports of Chinese doping, the adequacy of the response and aggressive efforts by the United States to combat it.

Critics of the I.O.C. and the antidoping agency, known as WADA, said they saw the developments as a blatant effort to cover up both a pattern of suspicious activity in the Chinese swimming program and the unwillingness of WADA to confront it.